Letters: ‘A bad joke.’ Readers not impressed by legislature’s opening days.

Real ID first

Time is again being wasted at Frankfort with the bill requiring voters to show official photo identification, with our state government coming up with a way to handle it. We would also be funding this with additional taxpayer dollars. We cannot even handle Real ID driver licenses as required by the federal government.

Upon trying to obtain a Real ID driver’s license in Fleming County, I was told it wasn’t available yet. Upon investigation, I find that only the “elite” people of eight counties may obtain these. The federal mandate originated in 2005. Our paid employees — government officials and staff — have elected to ignore this until it is now an emergency. As a person who flies and associates with many people who use air transportation, this is not a good position to be put in by our state. I cannot get an explanation of why state officials have elected to discriminate against the citizens of the commonwealth who don’t live in the “elite” eight counties.

If they want to set up regional offices to issue these licenses, then I would suggest putting them in smaller towns like Flemingsburg. This would boost economies instead of adding to already congested areas in metro areas.

Jerry Judd, Flemingsburg

Priorities ‘bad joke’

The American novelist John Kennedy Toole wrote a delightful book titled A Confederacy of Dunces that was published in 1980. The dictionary defines a “dunce” as a slow witted or stupid person. Except for a handful of state legislators, our General Assembly can easily be characterized as such a confederacy. Take for example their first priority this current session: stemming the imagined immigration flow into Kentucky. They camouflage this ridiculous legislation as a public safety measure. It’s a bad joke.

One of the leaders of our legislative confederacy hails from a small, rural county in Eastern Kentucky. Can you just imagine the hordes of immigrants already in place or the thousands at our southern border clamoring to get into his Clay County district? It’s a diversionary tactic to take our attention away from the real problems of Kentucky that this confederacy should be dealing with: desperate lack of revenue, literacy, healthcare, education, jobs, infrastructure, pensions, and the pestilence of lobbyists. (It’s not picture-ID for voting — their second priority.) What kind of people are we sending to Frankfort to represent us and not themselves (think legislative pensions)? Maybe the selection of legislators is our number one problem in the commonwealth.

Jack Blanton, Lexington

Drop immigration bill

I’m appalled that the state Senate leadership is making a bill targeting illegal immigration its top priority. Senate Bill 1 violates the religious freedom of Bible-believing Jews and Christians.

Over and over, the Bible says we are to support the stranger in our midst because the Jews were strangers in Egypt. The bill requires that public employees use “their best efforts” on behalf of federal immigration policy — no matter how draconian. It states that law-enforcement officers and employees of a public agency cannot “(grant) to illegal immigrants the right to lawful presence or status within the boundaries of this state in violation of federal law” and requires them to cooperate with ICE.

I don’t judge other people for their religion, and no one should force the Republican leadership or the co-sponsoring state senators to become Christians. However, I believe that trying to force Christians and Jews to go against the Bible is anti-religion. The General Assembly has backed believers who cite the Bible to justify their hateful treatment of gay people; the least lawmakers can do is to include a religious exemption for Jews and Christians who cite the Bible to justify their love. But even better would be to abandon this unconstitutional mandate.

Ivonne Rovira, Louisville

Conversion therapy harmful

Lately, conversion therapy has been a popular topic in the Kentucky news media. Two bills have been introduced in this year’s legislative session; House Bill 199 and Senate Bill 85. For years, young people have been tortured by this so-called “therapy”. The thing is it isn’t much of therapy; it’s more like torture. Conversion therapy is based on the incorrect claim that there is something wrong or sick about being anything other than heterosexual and cisgender. These claims aren’t medically supported by any of the leading professional mental and medical health organizations. Conversion therapy uses harmful practices that, according to San Francisco State University’s Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, makes LGBTQ youth 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression, 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs, and 3.4 times more likely to be at high risk of HIV and STDs.

The two bills will ensure that youth are protected from this so-called “therapy”. It is important that every one of us call our legislators and insist that they support these two bills. LGBT youths’ quality of life depends on it.

Jesse L. Brock, Beverly

Guns or people?

With many serious issues facing our state, our Senate leadership has decided that “possible” sanctuary cities for immigrants is the number one concern.

The fact that there are none in Kentucky is beside the point.

What about sanctuary counties for guns? I wonder if they will be included in this ban. Some counties have already passed that law.

Is it more important to protect guns than to protect people?

Laws are supposed to be obeyed by everyone. A sanctuary is a sanctuary. Either protect them or ban them, but don’t pass laws that don’t apply to all Kentuckians.

Margie Lewis, Eubank

Gun sanctuaries ridiculous

The Tea Party was less a movement and more a scam, built on a foundation of ignorance and slogans masked as policy. It was just a carnival barker technique of shouting, “Hey! Rube!” And rubes answered.

The Second Amendment sanctuary movement is exactly the same thing and for the same purpose. It is no more than a hysteria induced by those who’d resurrect the stupidity that was the Tea Party to drive uninformed voters to vote for the stupid party, aka the GOP.

Disregarding that the Second Amendment resolutions are meaningless and have no method of enforcement, just read the Constitution. Answer this: Why do 2A sanctuary gun rights activists only focus on small arms? Why can’t any American possess everything from a hand grenade to a nuclear device? How do those pushing the resolution rationalize their stance to keep and bear arms against the requirement for a Class III license to own a submachine gun and the prohibition against owning explosives and heavy artillery? Sound ridiculous? Because it is.

Sane regulation isn’t onerous. Opposition to it on the premise the Constitution prohibits a solution to the gun violence problem is ludicrous.

By the way, I’m a gun owner/collector who owns almost 80 firearms.

Bill Adkins, Williamstown

Op-ed misguided

A recent Herald-Leader op-ed by Todd Warnick, “Local communities can ban smoking but have no control over gun control. They should.”,argues that local communities are the logical authorities to protect the public from “the horrific toll of gun violence.” Mr. Warnick completely fails or refuses to understand the issues involved.

He is correct that local communities can ban smoking; however, smoking is not a right protected by the U.S. Constitution; bearing arms is. Perhaps it’s time to change the Second Amendment. If so, the gun ban crowd should endeavor to get public support to amend the Constitution. It’s been done 27 times and can be done again.

If a simple vote of a local city council can infringe on our right to keep and bear arms, why not have our city council consider needed changes to the rights of speech or assembly or even freedom of the press where Mr. Warnick airs his misguided ideas. There are undoubtedly several groups that could propose tweaks to the Constitution that could be done by the city council.

Dave Rosenbaum, Lexington

This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 2:50 PM.